Jovy Trejo
Week Two Assignment
Why is understanding physics and the general rules of the universe so important in doing
philosophy?
According to the film, History of Western Philosophy, philosophy is very broad.
Philosophy is a study containing natural science, mathematic, ethics, and morality. Philosophy
explores the relation between the possible and the actual. Physics concerns what we say about
Nature (Quantum Weirdness 20). Science provided philosophy a way to do experiments and
prove theories. Also, science exists due to philosophy.
Philosophy of the mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind,
particularly the brain. In the book, Quantum Weirdness, it is said that neurobiology can explain
how we think, which occurs in the brain. Physics is important in doing philosophy because
physics can also answer questions of the brain. Philosophy is essential, as well, because
philosophy can actually play an important part in understanding scientific results. Science cannot
exist without philosophy.
There are many theories in science that are often questioned, especially in physics. For
example, Einstein was bothered by the fact that quantum theory was essentially probabilistic.
Quantum physics has many theories that are often skeptical, for instance, string theory. In Brian
Greene’s Elegant Universe, it is said that if a theory cannot actually be tested then it is not
science, but philosophy. Subsequently, since string theory cannot actually be tested then it is
philosophy.
Philosophy, I believe, played an important role in the discovery of quantum mechanics.
Many physicists have a great interest in philosophy, for example, Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr,
among many others. Neils Bohr contributed to quantum theory and maybe his background in
philosophy made him a better scientist, or aided him with his ideas.